Chicken barbecues we love have roots in New York

Published 11:31 am, Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

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Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

Image 3 of 4

Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

Image 4 of 4

Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

Bryah Gifford and Ed Frances, of Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park, prepare chicken halves for a fundraiser at the Visiting Nurses Association in Schenectady in June. (Deanna Fox)

Chicken barbecues we love have roots in New York

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It all started as a marketing ploy.

Dr. Robert C. Baker was a professor of poultry and food sciences at Cornell University. As the poultry industry began to wane in New York state in the 1940s, Baker worked to develop means to re-popularize poultry and use as much of the bird as possible. Baker invented the Cornell chicken barbecue sauce and cooking method in the early 1950s. A simple emulsion of oil, eggs, vinegar and spices transformed the culinary landscape of upstate.

Baker, also credited with inventing the chicken nugget, published his sauce recipe and cooking instruction in a Cornell bulletin. He enlisted engineering students to develop plans for a modular barbecue pit, included in the bulletin. The bulletin was initially free, and backyard cooking enthusiasts started perpetuating the regional specialty.

The Brooks and Gifford families, both of Stamford, Delaware County, saw the promise of char-grilled glory in that bulletin.

More Information

Cornell Chicken Barbecue Sauce/Finger Lakes Marinade Recipe

Makes enough for 10 chicken halves

1 egg

1 cup cooking oil

2 cups cider vinegar

3 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

½ teaspoon pepper

Beat the egg, then add the oil and beat again. Add vinegar, salt, poultry seasoning and pepper and stir.

The recipe can be varied to suit individual tastes.

Developed by the late Dr. Robert C. Baker, professor of poultry sciences and food sciences

Griffith and Frances Brooks bought her father's poultry farm in Stamford in the 1940s. A small retail shop on the farm sold meat and eggs, but sales were slumping. "They began selling cooked chicken as a new source of income, and started catering on the weekends in 1951," says Ryan Brooks, grandson of Griffith and Frances. The Brooks chicken barbecue recipe was an adaptation of the Cornell recipe, and is still used today. After a few inceptions of an eatery, the Brooks family opened the Brooks House of BBQ restaurant in Oneonta in 1965. Ryan Brooks continues his family's tradition of barbecue as third-generation owner.

Randy Gifford was already working in the restaurant industry when he began to tinker with his own version of Cornell's sauce.

Along with his family, Gifford turned his backyard hobby into a successful catering career with Giffy's Bar-B-Q in 1995. Eighteen years later, Giffy's Bar-B-Q has expanded to include a fleet of catering vehicles and a Clifton Park year-round restaurant.

While both families have found success in their restaurants, it is the chicken barbecue fundraiser that proves most popular.

"We cook roughly 3,000 to 4,000 chickens a week at fundraisers, and most of that is between Easter and Thanksgiving," says Bryah Gifford, second-generation owner. Both companies perform 250 to 300 fundraisers a year, and despite other offerings, riffs on Baker's chicken continue to be the draw.

"Instead of $30 for half a roll of wrapping paper that no one wants, for $10 you get dinner that you have to eat anyway, and you get to help all these organizations keep their doors open," Gifford says.

There are many theories on why this tradition has not spread beyond the region. "People crave what they are used to," says Brooks, who believes the comfort in the tradition is what keeps it popular. Thomas Gallagher, of Cornell Cooperative Extension, feels similarly. He believes that just as the Southern states have their versions of barbecue, and the coastal Northeast has seafood bakes, we have our chicken barbecue.

Baker had large-scale cooking in mind for this method, as it is well-suited for staged cooking of hundreds of chicken halves. The ease of cooking the chicken keeps profit margins favorable. In fact, it was first introduced as a fundraiser for Cornell.

Perhaps Gifford says is best. "We are the highlight of everybody's day. When you have something positive in your life, like a raise or a birthday, you go out for dinner. Food is involved in the highlight of everyone's day. We are involved with their highlight, and we are helping all these nonprofits raise money."

The poultry department at Cornell is now defunct, but the legacy of Baker's method is unwavering. The briny flavor and slow waft of charcoal smoke has ingrained itself into our regional fabric. It has pervaded our collective palate, and as temperatures rise, so too does our longing for this regional delight.